Plan for Booming Business Year-Round

So many people return from holidays and realize they haven't done nearly enough planning, scheduling and preparation with clients. They spend most of January trying to connect, get started or re-kindle lost momentum. In order to reduce slowdowns and eliminate being at a standstill, you’ve got to have a plan in advance! There are 2 key things to remember to ensure you are ahead of the game, not falling behind….

Plan Future Projects

Whether you’re a business owner or in sales, often our relationship with clients is only planned out as far as the next transaction. Ideally you want to engage clients in conversations that get them thinking about their future purchases and also the timelines to those things. Often clients say, lets tackle it in the spring. Well, let’s set some dates! The other issue is does the client realize what type of preparation and lead time is necessary to hit "spring"? We need to be asking clients about future projects and purchases while they are in the thick of the existing ones. We need to educate them on all the steps and time requirements (which often educates them on just how much value you provide).

Know your Client

When I go buy clothes in the winter, my favorite clothing salesperson, Carmen is already asking me if I golf and telling me when the spring/summer lines come in. Then she always asks if she can call before then to book a VIP appointment so I have first pick on new items. She made me feel special by taking an interest in my hobbies, positioning things so I was a VIP and ensuring I committed to a future appointment.

Another great example is the printer that calls 3 months after you order business cards as a courtesy to ask if you need cards again now or in one more month – note that NOT re-ordering wasn't a choice.
Or how about the pumps/compressor salesman asking clients about 24 months of upcoming projects and selling 5-10 units at a time simply by suggesting clients look at their long term needs (and again created more value for customers as a planning facilitator versus just a salesperson).

Sit down with clients and plan for this coming summer now. There is no reason to be slow this summer if you start to book up the whole spring now. When you're in demand and make the effort to plan and guide people on when they need to buy, they will!

Your Elevator Speech

How do you respond when someone asks 'what do you do?' There are a couple of key things to consider and unfortunately most people do it wrong. Most people just answer the question: their role, company they are with and products/services they offer.
Unfortunately, they stop there.

It results in something like:
"My name is John, I work for Johnson Manufacturing, we make kitchen countertops and pre-fab stone structures."

Wow! Gripping! Who wouldn't walk away from John after this uninspiring speech?!

This is where the elevator speech comes in. Basically it is your short window of opportunity (similar to a ride in an elevator) to educate someone on what you do in a way that is inspiring, intriguing and BEGS for questions to be asked!

1. Start with what you offer: Your audience is judging whether they want to keep talking to you based on what is in it for them. So tell them.
2. Make it sound exciting: Don't just manufacture something - own the industry, be cutting edge, hold a record. Your tone of voice will also say everything you're not - BE excited, smile and share your passion and energy!
3. Ask a question: Engage people in order to get them talking about what you do and what they need. Make it an open ended question not a yes/no answer.

A replay on John's speech should be more like this:
"My name is John, I turn people's kitchen into works of art that make having dinner parties thrilling for our customers. I work with Johnson Manufacturing and we lead the industry in creativity. When was the last time you had your kitchen upgraded?"

Final tip: Practice it. Moving to a new, interesting elevator speech is awkward for most people. Repeat it to yourself 50 times, to others 20 times and then take it out to the next meeting or network event.

4 Client Gift-Giving Guidelines that make YOU stand out

So often this time of year your mailbox is bombarded with holiday cards from business associates, your realtor, and friends. The ones from friends tend to be the most effective because they usually take the time to write a personal message that sticks and impacts you. As well you get boxes of chocolates at the office … how many pounds of sweets do you really need? Here are 4 great ideas for giving gifts that make an impact and stand out:
1) Give gifts or cards to clients, employees and key alliance/vendors/partners. Don’t leave people out.

2) Make the card handwritten. Pre-printed cards or a Hallmark with just your signature actually can send the message that you don’t care enough to actually write something yourself.

3) Gifts should be for the individual and not for the office (unless you deal with a whole group of people). So often I get a gift for the company (coupon for discount) or for the office (giant box of cookies).

4) Call an assistant or co-worker to really find out what makes that person tick or where their interests lie. A gift card from their favorite running store (if they run) or for the movies (if that’s a love of theirs) is a always more memorable. Memorable means relationship and relationship means more business in the new year..

Get 2011 off to the right start. Many companies have good ideas ... at Evolve we ensure that action and accountability are in place to make it a reality. Our philosophy is that any business can move from being good to great with the right tactics, strategies and implementation. What is your goal and how can we help you achieve it? Contact us for a free assessment.

Tips on Tactfully Collecting Receivables

First off, stop being so apologetic. It is your money. It is owed to you. You and your team have worked hard for it, so make sure you remember that you are in the right and not the wrong. Often people dealing with receivable calls will try to put you in the wrong, will be vague or occasionally, even aggressive. When you call about a receivable owing be prepared, have the reference number, invoice number, date sent, all ready to go for quick reference. The best way to dodge calls and commitments is to say "its in process" or "we have it in for payment". Most people then are satisfied and hang up. Wrong!! Its in process?! How long is that? It's in for payment? This year?


The objective is to get specific commitments. When someone says it will be ready next week, you have to ask, Is that Monday or Friday? (because next week is a period not a time) What day will it be ready? Will that be morning or afternoon? Ask people to hold the cheque for pickup. Then it never gets lost in the mail (It's in the mail; a classic!). I often send a courier because $8 on a courier is always cheaper than not having control of money owed to me.

Be as friendly as you can be. Try to kill the person with kindness but be firm and persistent. The person who is pleasant but calls consistently get the early payments.

Dealing with Client Relationships

Every person in business has good client relationships... and then some that aren't as connected. There are so many variables to how to manage a relationship with a client in order to ensure its long term, honest and strong. Here are 5 key things to think about in caring for your client relationships:

1) It is YOUR responsibility to make the relationship work. Yes, yes, it is both parties responsibility in a relationship but the bigger person and the driving force behind the relationship is you. You initiate communication with clients. You call to check in. You present ways to communicate regularly that might work for them. If you wait for the client to manage things, you are not owning that responsibility. (Tough conversations are also yours to start).

2) Get Results. Business relationships are fundamentally built around the work. So you can be the greatest person on earth but if your project or service is being poorly delivered, then the relationship will ultimately fail. Sure, a good personality and friendship might give you some extra chances but make no mistake, results are what a client needs.

3) Systemize the communication. Formalize the methods you use with a client so they get updates, reports, emails and status on things regularly, on time and at the same time daily or weekly. No news or silence is not a good idea. People always think the worst when they don’t hear from you. You are better to send consistent reports that say, no change, than to provide no word at all.

4) Ask for Feedback. We all dread the idea of asking for feedback but it is essential to knowing where your client relationship stands. People who are surprised when a client ‘lets them go’ shouldn’t be. They are only surprised because they never had the courage to ask the client how things were going and where they could’ve improved.

5) Be Courageous. Tough conversations around price, delivery and client cooperation are going to come up. If you are feeling bad or there is the proverbial white elephant in the room, your job is to bring up the issues before your client. You are proactive about issues, able to voice concerns for the client from their perspective and willing to admit mistakes. People appreciate courageous communication.

How to Win Every Challenge Before it Begins

Have you ever had a favorite competitor or team that was so dominant, they had destroyed the competition before they even got on the field or reached the start line? These athletes have a success mindset and it’s a necessity for you, in business today.

You, your customers, your team and co-workers all have pre-conceived notions and ideas that form your beliefs around work. It could be beliefs around pricing, effort, money, whether you’re better at sales. The beliefs you start each day with determine your effectiveness in sales, in customer service, in leadership. It impacts what you make each year as income.

Here are some key exercises to master your mindset and identify your limitations:

1. How do you define your skills and abilities? Ask yourself this, what am I not good at? Make a list. Now let us ask, how do you know? Is it an opinion, or a fact? Very often people’s limitations are based on a belief about what they can’t do. It’s an opinion that they are “not really creative”, “not good with numbers” or “bad in front of clients”. Is this really true? Most of the time it is a lack of practice and a belief in that limitation which creates the result. Look at what your list is; now write out what you would need to do to get good at these things. What would you need to practice? Where could you get help? Who could mentor you? Creating an action plan of steps to improve a limitation often uncovers its temporary nature.
2. Play Out the Ideal in Your Head – if you want to get comfortable with a new belief you need to play with it in your imagination. For example, if you aren’t making enough money, you need to start to imagine what it might be like to make double or triple. What would you spend it on? What would those big paychecks feel like to receive? Write one out to yourself. Once you really start to enjoy imagining the new situation it is easier to start to say, how could I do it? It starts with you feeling comfortable before you start to create it.

Get on the right track - Join us for Success Mindset- the first seminar in the Leadership Selling Series beginning Monday October 18th.

Managing Time Versus Energy

Evolve Business Group was one of the sponsors of a WIIFM Productions presentation June 29th featuring Russell Hunter from the Human Performance Institute (http://www.hpinstitute.ca). During his talk, Russell likened a business person to a high performing athlete. There are chronic demands on energy and over time if the appropriate measures are not taken the life span of a “corporate athlete” is diminished. The key point is that energy is the fundamental currency of high performance.

In order to perform at one’s best there are four principles of personal energy management to assess:

Principle number 1 is energy is four dimensional. The four dimensions of energy are: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. All four dimensions are connected and work to create either physical or emotional based energy. The ideal situation is to move between quadrants of high physical energy & low physical energy along with positive emotional energy. This allows for opportunity based energy.

Principle number 2 is energy investment requires renewal. It is important to be able to have “micro-recovery” so that you can have sustained performance. Check in with yourself and ask what are already doing to recover in small ways throughout the day? Some examples are: getting up and stretching periodically, walking at lunch or taking a book and reading over a break.

Principle number 3 is stress is not the enemy. Stress is created simply by how we frame situations and things and attach meaning to them. Studies have shown that by experiencing “training stress” the capacity for performance increases. In other words stress is important in stretching our abilities and creating learning.

Principle number 4 is willpower is overrated. 95% of how we perform is determined by non conscious habitual behaviours. Only 5% is conscious and self-regulated behaviours. By creating specific performance rituals, these will become embedded in the 95% of non conscious habitual behaviours.

By doing a quick self assessment and a process of development based on these 4 principles, you will be on your way to becoming a corporate athlete. Enlist a partner to create performance rituals or consult us at Evolve (results@evolvebusinessgroup.com) and get training!